1870 Canadian Nickel
The 1870 Canadian Nickel is a Canadian nickel struck for circulation with 2.8 million made. Value band: metal value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1870
- Circulation mintage
- 2,800,000
- Value band
- Metal value
- Composition
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver)
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1870 Canadian Nickel worth?
The 1870 Canadian Nickel is a silver coin with 0.0345 troy ounces of pure silver, so its floor is its metal value: 0.0345 times the day's silver spot price. With 2.8 million made, worn examples trade for about their silver; collectors pay more for sharp, original coins and much more for uncirculated ones with full luster.
What would make yours worth more:
- Sharp detail with original luster
- A recognized variety for the date
- Professional grading for a key date
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1870 Canadian Nickel rare?
- Not by mintage. 2.8 million were made, but it is silver, so even worn examples are worth their metal value rather than face value.
- How many 1870 Canadian nickels were made?
- 2,800,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1870 Canadian Nickel made of?
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver). It weighs 1.16 g and measures 15.5 mm.
- Is the 1870 Canadian Nickel still legal tender?
- Yes. Canadian 5-cent coins are legal tender, but a silver one is worth more for its metal than its face value.
The 1870 nickel in context
Confederation in 1867 created the Dominion of Canada, but for its first few years the new country made do with the provincial coins already in circulation along with plenty of foreign silver. In 1870 the Dominion finally ordered silver coins of its own. The 1870 five cents was part of that first Dominion order from the Royal Mint in London, alongside new 10, 25 and 50 cent pieces. The old 20 cent coin was dropped in favor of the 25 cent, partly because it was too easy to confuse with the 25 cent piece of the United States. No Canadian five cents had been struck since 1858, so this was the first new small silver in twelve years.
The order was a big one by the standards of the day. The mint struck 2,800,000 five cents dated 1870, almost twice the 1858 total. These coins went straight into daily use and stayed there for decades, so most that survive show heavy wear. Still, the large mintage makes 1870 one of the more available Victorian dates and a good first coin for someone starting this series.
How to recognize it
The obverse introduced the portrait that would carry the denomination to the end of Victoria's reign: the queen crowned, with the legend VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA. The reverse kept the familiar layout of 5 CENTS and the date in a maple wreath topped by a crown. The coin was the same small sterling silver piece of about 1.16 g. What makes 1870 special for specialists is the rim. Some coins have a flat rim, while others have a raised, narrow wire rim and the two types come from different dies. The edge is reeded and the queen looks a little older and more regal than on the laureate 1858 portrait.
1870 Canadian Nickel by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1870 Canadian Nickel ranks 42nd lowest of 161 Canadian nickel dates and varieties from 1858 to 2024. The next scarcer is the 1903 H Canadian Nickel (2.64 million); the next more common is the 1880 H Canadian Nickel (3 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2008 Canadian Nickel with 278.5 million, about 99 times as many. The scarcest is the 1884 Canadian Nickel with 200,000, 14 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1870 output was 1.9 times the 1858 figure and 2 times the 1871 figure.
Over the 1870s the Mint produced 8 million five cent coins across 5 dates and varieties; the 1870 Canadian Nickel accounts for 35% of that.
What to check on your 1870 Canadian Nickel
- Check the date first: silver Canadian nickels carry dates from 1858 to 1921; this one has 0.0345 troy oz. Silver coins are not magnetic and ring clearly when dropped on a hard surface.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or polishing leaves fine scratches that collectors spot at once and that cut the value of silver dates sharply.
- Look at the high points of the portrait and the design. Wear there sets the grade. The grade in turn drives the value of older five cent coins.
The mintage figure covers both the flat rim and wire rim coins, so the data cannot tell you which is scarcer. Check the edge of the face on both sides: a wire rim stands up as a thin raised line, while a flat rim is broader and lower. Circulated 1870s are relatively common, so condition drives interest. Look for clear detail on the crown and the queen's hair. A hole, a bend or a bright scrubbed surface takes away most of a coin's appeal, so check yours under light from several angles.
Queen Victoria silver five cents (1858 to 1901)
Canada's five cent piece started life as a tiny silver coin. In 1858 the Province of Canada moved its accounts from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents, so it ordered new coins from the Royal Mint in London: a bronze cent plus silver 5, 10 and 20 cent pieces. The 5 cent weighed about 1.16 g of sterling (.925) silver and was barely bigger than a fingernail. Leonard Charles Wyon engraved a young laureate Victoria for the first issue. After Confederation the Dominion placed its own orders from 1870, now with a crowned portrait of the queen.
Canada had no mint of its own, so every one of these coins came from England. London struck most years, while Ralph Heaton & Sons of Birmingham filled several orders and marked them with a small H on the reverse. The reverse barely changed in more than forty years: 5 CENTS and the date inside a wreath of maple leaves with a crown on top. Production came in bursts. Nothing was dated 1859 to 1869, 1873, 1876 to 1879 or 1895 and yearly totals swing from 200,000 to 3,000,000.
Start with the date and check for an H, since the pair identifies the issue. The low mintage years are the ones to hope for: 1884 above all, then 1887, 1894 and 1898, with 1875-H scarcer than its total suggests. These coins were easy to lose and were often holed or made into jewelry, which is part of why decent survivors are hard to find. On a worn piece the hair detail and the leaf veins go first. Collectors also hunt small date varieties, such as overdates and different sizes of numeral, recorded in the mintage notes.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 5 cents |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1870 |
| Circulation mintage | 2,800,000 |
| Composition | Sterling silver (92.5% silver) |
| Weight | 1.16 g |
| Diameter | 15.5 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Reeded |
Frequently asked questions
Was 1870 the first Canadian five cents?
Not quite. The Province of Canada issued five cents in 1858. The 1870 coin was the first issued by the Dominion of Canada after Confederation and the first with the crowned portrait used for the rest of Victoria's reign.
What is a wire rim?
It is a thin, sharply raised border around the face of the coin. On 1870 five cents it appears on some coins and not on others, which are called flat rim. Both are genuine and both are counted in the same mintage.
Mintage figures: Nickel (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.